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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Take the smallest drop of water—see , with microscopic view , Thousand creatures raven , slaughter , mangle , cripple , maim , pursue . Breathe the air—where million beings in unending conflict dwell , Every tiny bosom racing with the *» g ing fires of
Hell ! And the Curbb Btbbnai * gives them weapons kindred to their hearts : Claw , and tusk , and venotned fang , and web , and coil , and poisoned darts . Nature is one scene of murder , misery , malice , pain , and sin ; And earth and air , and fire and water grudge the little peace you win ; Blight and mildew , hail and tempest , draught and flood your harvests spoil , Disputing inch by inch the conquests of your
heartsubduing toil . " Nay ! Beside these certain scourges , dreader evils rise as well : Plague , and war , and famine sweep their countless victims down to Hell ! All for special sins commissioned , as the Almighty rod was held Over Europe's insurrections when its savages rebelled . Ha ! How they rotted ! How they perished ! Myriads
stricken , day by day ! Rebels yielded—men submitted—and the wrath was turned away . t Brethren ! profit by the lesson ! see the hand that s stretching down To shield the woolsack , counter , ledger , altar , mitre , sabre , crown ! Then be patient in Affliction ! envy not the rich and great ! A contrite and a broken heart' alone shall enter at
the gat ^ . You may think the rich are happy , but you little know the cost : By the gain of earthly treasures are eternal treasures lost . For this life is short and fleeting , and they choose a poorer share ; Let the n revel—let them triumph : they shall suffer doubly there . Your afflictions are your blessings ; by disaster you
are tried ; Those are happiest who are saddest , if the searching test they bide . Tears are gladder far than smiles ; disease is healthier far than health ; Rags are warmer far than ermine ; want is richer far than wealth ; Hunger feeds you more than plenty ; strife is peace and peace is strife ; Loss is gain and gain is loss ; life is death and death is lite . " Check the proud , repining spirit ; bare the back and kiss the rod : Humbled , crushed , and broken-hearted , is the state that pleases God . Listen not to idle schemers , pointing to Utopian goals : Yours is more than work enough to save your miserable bouIb . Dream not of amelioration ;—future ages still shall nurse In their breast the antient serpent , the irrevocable curse . 'Tis writ , ' I came to bring a sword . " 'Tis writ , ' The poor shall never cease . ' 'Tis blasphemy to talk of plenty , heresy to think of peace ! By nature you are nil corrupt , and doomed , and damned , and lost in sin : Each natural thought , each natural wish , is searching Satan ' s lure within ! And , to crown the gloomy prospect , should a single hope aspire . Hangs o ' er all the Day of Judgment with its worlddestroying fire !
" The Bishop bows with reverence bland , And leans his head upon his hand ; Then up the aisles and arches dim Peals the deep-resounding hymn . " There is a rough , pungent flavour in these verses , and a seriousness in their sarcasm which will hardly have escaped the least attentive reader . They have a strength seldom found in the verses of the day , and their rhythmic vehemence and
copious detail prove that , if Jhrnest Jones iveffe ' tio act himself to the task , he might become the Chartisjt "Juvenal . Satire of the indignant kind peems'to lie Jjuj forte He is eloquent , epigrammatic , and vigorous . He is in earnest , and will not play with hi « subject , caring more for matter than for manner but gifted with a certain faculty of song which mukt-H him every now and then choose singing aa hia utterance .
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VIVIAN M Q It O T A T . You know what a freezing sensation we experience when , on arriving at the Opera , rich in expectation of our favourite music and our favourite singers , we are " brought up all standing" by a huge staring '' damper" of a placard announcing the " extreme regret of the directors , " and the sudden and violent attack of hoarweneHs of Signor X or Madame Y ; and requesting the " indulgent consideration of the audience" towards llerr this
or Signora that , who , at the very shortest notice , and in utter ignorance of the words and the music , have " obligingly consented to undertake , " &c . &c . The indulgence of a Brititih audience is never solicited in vain—in fact it is proverbial ; and I have the word for it of all the foreign artisU of my acquaintance , the English are still " le rrjeilleur public que noiiH avona . " That it should fall to my lot to have to make a nimilar claim upon the " indulgence" of the large and necessarily liberal public of the Lender I Gentle readers , and ye especially , fair . and dear ladies ( as ftoccacio would way ) , behold
me , figuratively at least , upon my knees , imploring pardon for my presumption in offering , I do not say to fill , but to occupy , the critical chair of Vivian for one week only , and at his own particul ar request . But I mean to attack your fine feelings at once by acquainting you with the sad cause of my involuntary usurpation . Vivian has . fallen ill in your service . The doctor ' s certificate is before me : it certifies prostration , languor , exhaustion ; it prescribes the best of tonics , fresh air , and perfect quiet . So our friend has taken wing away from these worn and jaded streets , and
is at this very moment , we may hope , inhaling health and peace , and drinking in , as one does in the country and in tne country only , deep consciousness of the " sweet habitude of being" Far from the dust , and the roar , and the ceaseless din , be roams the park , the dell , the glade , the meadow ; the sea-shore and the riverbank , and the hill-top are his medicaments ; the " breath of kine upon the lea , " a balm ; the whisper of faint breezes m the pine wood , a memory of music and a fond regret ! For the stifling atmosphere of the theatre , and the green curtain of the stage , he has accepted in exchange the " broad green curtain " of nature , and the repose of rural
solitudes . Were I disposed to assert my * ' classics , " and to fortify them by a quotation ( from the Latin grammar ) I might pretend to fancy him reclined under a spreading beech-tree , and piping ( not smoking ) to the flocks . I seize this occasion of requesting his host to employ a gentle compulsion with Vivian in two respects : —1 . To make him taste the fresh breath of earliest morning ; 2 . To forbid him all access to the library- ; especially to the shelves of Patristic Theology . My readers well know the necessity of this caution , and the strong propensity of my friend which it is directed against . And the doctor sums up his advice in the following formula : —* ' He must depart the intellectual life , and be a vegetable !"
But I hear " complaints of this kind : Why did he put you in his place ? Simply for the same reason that a friend of mine in the West , a " love of a preacher , " as I often hear him called , whenever he takes a . few weeks' conge of his congregation , selects to replace him and to keep the pulpit warm for him— a brilliant ex-trumpery preacher , a man with adorable whiskers , thrilling voice , intense eyes , and elegant white hands ? Nothing of the kind ; but the plainest ( married ) individual he can find , who reads the heaviest discourses , and is altogether as unfascinating as a very large family and a very small preferment can make him ; so that
every time my friend returns to his flock he manages to create a new sensation , and an enthusiasm sharpened by contrast . Perfidious Vivian ! For consider my position ; if I chance to ptumble on a funny , or vivacious , or philosophical remark— " Oh ! he is trying to do Vivian ! " Just as I once overheard a young lady say to a rat-haired gent , who was grimacing into her ear with evident self-complacency— Ol Mr . Smith , you are talking Punch ! whereupon I could see the gent would willingly have sunk into the floor . Well , I shall make up my mind to " say my say , " give you my opinion , which / value much , and leave you to form yours . I have been twice to
hear—IL FLAUTO MAG ICO at Covent Garden ; and on the whole , especially after the second performance , it seems to me in many respects the most complete and satisfactory production even of the Royal Italian Opera , which has rendered us so difficult to satisfy I I never came home so entirely possessed , charmed , filled , tranquillized by music , as on last Tuesday . The whole opera seemed to go so grandly , so roundly , so simply , so majestically . A perfect ensemble of orchestral and choral power , and an unapproachable cast of the principal characters , concurring to produce an elaborate and finished unity . You have read to satiety the history of this opera : how ,
when , and where it was first produced : and in terms far more technical than 1 care to employ ( except when I am chatting to the director of the Musical Union , and trying to trump him ); you have had the construction of the music directed and laid bare to your critical examination . I simply relate to you the impressions of a " capital judge . " First , let me say that it would not be easy to find on impersonation more grandly conceived or more imposingly presented than Formes ' Sarastro . All was subdued , in good keeping , free from cxnggeration . The gait , the gesture , the look , the whole hearing were of a High Priest familiar with sublime mysteries , and nursed in august traditions . Ah for his winging , in the second
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THE JUDGMENT OF ZAMIEL . [ A Jar ** hall open to the sky . Uriel i » seated on a thro e . Befor him kneel the rebel angels in complete armour Zamiel stand * haughtily on one side . ] Angel . Have mercy , Uriel , we that sinned repent , Uriel . Before such sin as yours , even mercy fades . As fades the glory from your drooping wings . The grace ye ask , angels , is denied . Zamiel . Ha , who denies it . ? jj I do , in the name And with the will of Him who sent me here . Za . But art thou sent ? Ur . lam . Za . I know not that . Ur . Nay ; if ye doubt that I am sent by Him * Demand what sign ye please ; it shall be given . Za . Will he refuse no sign that we may ask ? Ur . None . Za . Let the self-same fire , then , fall from heaven , Of which the eternal coronet is wrought , And diadem my brow . So shall I stand God-crowned , and with a God co-sov ' reign God , The lord of evil I . as he of good . Ur . Ah ! angel , who can wear God ' s crown but God ? Za . The enemy of God . So then my will . Ur . What dost thou see ? Za . I see the heavens unfold , And from their dazzling clefts a sunlike flame Falls and still falls , till , laking shape , it grows , To likeness of the eternal diadem , And clasps my brow . I see—¦ jjr . Thou seest a crown Woven of scarlet flames , that twist and flow Abo jg ; thy branded biovr . Why dost thou start , And look up to the heavens , as one struck blind ? Za . What is there no one will put out that fire ? It grows . Oh put it out ; let it not reach the sky . Why should he burn the meek and innocent sky ? Ah ! me . The angry drops of blood-red flame Fall thickly from the warring firmament . The hail smites sharply , and the wailing winds " Sound through the thunder . Tia a fearful night ! I thirst ! I thirst ! There is a lake afar , A lake of cool fresh water , far away . Give me one drop to cool my fiery tongue . Oh take this burning circle off my head ! Indeed , I do not wish to be a king . It is so sad , so sad , to be alone . I had a dream , and in my dream I thought There was an angel once who would be God . 'Twas a presumptuous wish to climb so high . Ah me ! the clouds roll off . I see a star That swims in the gray distance , and I feel The fresh breath ot the vigorous morning air . It is the sun I sec , and not a star . It is the day . I am glad it was a dream . I had forgotton you were waiting here . Go , tell your master that I feel his power , But will not own it . I , too , am a king , And thus I fold me in my kingliness . Ur . I see thee 6 tand and gather up thy robe , That starts away like some full sail at sea , By sudden wind inflated . Yet no wind Is here to lift it , but a whirling flame Catches the Btrugging folds with violent grasp . Now darkness falls , but still I see thee stand With burning diadem on wasted brown , And robc 9 from which the fiery flakes fall fast Drifting against thine angel limbs . Behold The judgment of the rebel Zamiel . M .
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We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Gokthk .
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684 0-ft * Htbiltt . [ SAtORDATf ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 19, 1851, page 684, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1892/page/16/
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